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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 30 2007 : 6:48:03 PM
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Hi Dedroidify,
quote:
I have a starter question which may seem silly, what do I do with the hands? I've started with laying my hands palms up on my legs as mudras are for later, is that good? Or do you have other recommendations.
You were given the correct answer before, which is to not pay much attention to it now and later it will do what it needs to somehow. But you were right when you said that where your hands go does have an impact, energetically. In my experience, a large impact.
For a while, I tended to meditate while keeping my thumb tips touching eachother and the right hand slightly over the left, palms upwards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:...kempfort.jpg Cool picture, huh? I began to notice how much of an effect this had. When I put my hands in this position sitting down somewhere, the spiritual energies rose in me easily (after months of twice daily practice of course).
Then when I was going to sleep, I would lay on my back and put my hands folded on my solar plexus (which was not for any reason, just because it's the most comfortable position for me). This would cause the energies to get all intense and I wouldn't be able to sleep because of that. I had to watch where my hands were going all day because they'd always have an effect on me...there was too much energy coming out of them.
So where am I going with this? Well, in my opinion the best way to have your hands is in the prayer position. It balances the energies, and keeps them contained so you're not influencing other things, like the rise of the energies if your palms are upwards, or putting too much energy into your legs if your palms are downwards. It also centers you at the heart (which is the final destination in our journey), and keeps you more aware by having to hold your arms up. Also, if too much energy is going out of your hands, putting them together in a circuit helps that energy balance out with the rest of the body's energies.
If you would like, give it a try. It's not AYP instruction, just my own observations.
quote:
And my more serious question is, why am I doing this Without digging through the future lessons what benefit does sitting up have compared to my comfortable practice of laying down which I'm used to for nearly 2 years (I don't have any trouble falling asleep). Besides the more obvious position for energy from above/below.
The two positions are quite a bit different physiologically speaking. The ground steals a lot more of your energy when you lay down...try sleeping on the ground outside at night. Brr! Do you ever watch survival programs on TV? Those experts are always saying to get some kind of insulator to sleep on to prevent heat loss. I think Dave (riptiz) mentioned something to this point.
Also, putting pressure on your legs by sitting cross legged helps bring blood and lymph back to the heart. By doing this, the neurons reprogram and realign themselves so that your energy flows back to the heart more easily, instead of being scattered. This means you experience more noticeable energy flows, and have more profound effects. Also, putting pressure on your bottom slightly stimulates the sexual stuff, and that goes up into your lower belly to react with air and food, which creates a substance which spreads throughout your body and makes you healthier. Sitting up with your spine straight causes blood to flow to the spine and muscles surrounding it, once again reprogramming neurons to always be working in this fashion. Breathing deeply (in a most relaxed way, not forced) then helps the veins move the blood back to the heart, in addition to the other ways of doing it, lowering your blood pressure, and thus your heart rate...and that has a snowball effect on a lot of the chemicals and hormones being released in your body.
None of that happens with laying on your back.
When you meditate on your back, the results you reap are only useful when you lay on your back again. Your body gets used to attaining samadhi while laying down, but not while being up and moving about. But if you're up and your body is working, it gets used to having samadhi while your muscles are working. This means that the results last throughout the day more than if you were meditating while lying down.
Another thing, lying on your back for many years of meditation, then sitting up may cause a big energy problem for someone. Their body will get used to the spiritual energy rising and a lot of it going into the ground, then when they sit up, less does and they will have too much energy for their body to handle.
The best thing in my personal opinion is to meditate sitting down in a position that's comfortable for you (don't try to do full siddhasana if it hurts to have your legs that way), without a back rest, without slouching or moving around, hands in prayer, no tension in parts of the body which don't need to be, and the mind fixed on the object of meditation. When the mind is fixed, then the breathing naturally slows down without having to pay attention to it.
That's my personal opinion and it actually goes against what Yogani has said in his lessons, so take it for what it's worth. |
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Dedroidify
22 Posts |
Posted - Mar 31 2007 : 08:56:09 AM
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| Thanks a lot Scott, that was very helpful. No kidding about the Samadhi bit! And I'm glad I decided to make the change. Cool pic indeed. |
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AYPforum
351 Posts |
Posted - Apr 17 2007 : 09:59:24 AM
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| Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement |
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Changing posture from laying down to sitting up
